Emhoff privately would prefer Harris not run again

Donors tell Harris a third presidential bid would be a long shot

Doug Emhoff has privately told some people he would prefer Kamala Harris not run for president again, and some major donors have told the former vice president directly that a third White House bid would be a long shot, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report, citing people familiar with the conversations, said Emhoff is among those who have shared concerns about another presidential campaign with others, though people close to him expect he will support Harris if she decides to run. The article was written by Journal reporters Jessica Toonkel, Emily Glazer, and Ken Thomas.

Harris has said publicly that she is undecided on whether to seek the presidency a third time, but has taken steps that could be precursor to a campaign. She has spoken with major donors, hired staff, and traveled to battleground states to boost Democratic candidates in the November midterm elections. Speaking at an NAACP event in Michigan last month, Harris received a lengthy standing ovation and said: “I have not decided if I’m going to run again. I do sincerely believe ‘28 won’t matter if we don’t get through ‘26.” A spokesman for Harris declined to comment for the Journal’s story. Some people who have known and worked with Harris are skeptical she will ultimately mount another run, the paper reported.

Harris was the Democratic nominee in 2024, securing the nomination without an open primary after then-President Joe Biden abruptly ended his re-election bid. Donald Trump subsequently won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, setting off months of internal finger-pointing and soul-searching within the party. Many Democrats, including some who remain close to Harris, now believe the party should put forward a fresh candidate in 2028. Unlike 2024, when Democrats coalesced around Harris in the aftermath of Biden’s exit, she is expected to face a crowded field if she runs again.

In her 2024 campaign memoir “107 Days,” Harris describes her husband as protective and supportive. She wrote that when she was chosen to be Biden’s running mate in 2020, “he made a huge sacrifice, gladly and without bitterness” by leaving his law firm. She wrote, “he knew it was essential that there be no appearance of conflicts of interest in our new roles. So that was his last day at his law firm.” She writes that in October 2024, she realized that “the attacks on me, and the many personal assaults he’d been experiencing were finally taking a toll.” She describes an argument they had during the 2024 campaign in which Emhoff told her, “We can’t turn on each other.” She wrote, “With the hits coming from every direction, we had to stay united.” Since leaving Washington, Emhoff has returned to work as an attorney at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP in Los Angeles. He and Harris purchased a new $8 million home in Malibu with views of the Pacific Ocean, and Harris has held some business meetings at the residence. The Journal reported that Harris’s recent moves have made some donors uneasy about her intentions.

In the weeks leading up to the midterms, Harris has appeared at a half-dozen private fundraisers in California, including an event in Santa Monica for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the party’s nominee for governor of Wisconsin, and another for Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, the Democratic nominee for governor of Nevada. She also joined a get-out-the-vote call with the Democratic National Committee this past week, urging more than 2,000 volunteers listening live to knock on doors and engage with voters to flip seats in a dozen states across the country. “Hard work is good work,” Harris said on the call.

Harris is expected to campaign for Ford in Nevada and for Senator Jon Ossoff’s re-election bid in Georgia, and will be the keynote speaker at the Fulton County Democratic Party’s annual fundraiser in Atlanta. She has been working closely with political advisers including chief of staff Candace Bond, a former U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago during the Biden administration, and Eduardo Negrón, who recently joined her team as communications director. For the past year, she has been a client of Brian Fallon, a Democratic strategist who worked on her 2024 presidential campaign.

Harris is one of several high-profile Democrats weighing a White House bid and laying the groundwork for a campaign if they decide to move forward. The expected large field of Democratic hopefuls could begin formally announcing their candidacies after the midterms. Harris leads the hypothetical Democratic field in most 2028 national primary polls. California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is also considering a run, said in a September CNN interview that he would not run if Harris enters the race, calling two Californians fighting each other in the primary a “gift from God for everybody else” with “no upside whatsoever.”

Harris retains support among key Democratic constituencies, particularly Black women. In Michigan, she campaigned to help turn out Black voters for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a demographic group he struggled with during the Democratic primary. While there, she attended a roundtable on infant and maternal mortality among Black Americans and spoke at an NAACP event. “She is going where she is needed and she is willing to do what it takes to help Democratic candidates on the ballot this year,” said Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic strategist who remains in touch with Harris.